Maria Fountain Parkinson, daughter of Cornelius and Elizaeth Van Deventer Fountin of Staten Island, New York, was born January 26, 1805. From 1816 though 1818 Maria attended the Litchfield Female Academy, and in 1827 or 1828 she married Leonard Parkinson of Staten Island. No other information is known about her life until her death on April 14, 1886.

The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.

CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:

1816 Litchfield Female Academy Catalog (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 to 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1903).

1817 Litchfield Female Academy Winter Session Catalogue (Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. More Chronicles of A Pioneer School From 1792 to 1833. Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1927).

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